[DBW]

BETTER from .gov? Is that possible? If .gov does anything maybe they should mandate that drivers be paid an hourly wage for the 14 hours of each day instead of the current ppm system. I personally don't see a fix happening anytime soon if ever. As usual the driver gets the short end of the stick regardless of what happens.

[CannedSpam]

Originally Posted by Deus

I'm still pretty much a rookie driver, but losing the 34 hour restart will be the suck since as it is I get a clean slate on the weekends. Only change I'd like to see to the HOS is 14 hour rule go to a 16 hour rule. Who needs 10 hours off to sit at a hotel?

This is not an attack on you per se, but who the hell wants to work 16 hours a day. Come on man get real! Did you just hop the border from Mexico?

[VitoCorleone99]

Originally Posted by CannedSpam

This is not an attack on you per se, but who the hell wants to work 16 hours a day. Come on man get real! Did you just hop the border from Mexico?

It wouldn't necessarily mean working 16 hours. It would mean that you could drive six hours, get lunch for an hour, drive two hours, take four hours for a shower and a nap, and drive your last three hours.

Sleep eight hours, rinse, repeat as necessary. I honestly think the 14 hour rule forces people to choose between covering a full day's miles and taking a nap when they're tired. Extending it or eliminating it would allow me, if nobody else in this country, to rest when I feel like it, instead of when I'm not really tired.

[CannedSpam]

Originally Posted by VitoCorleone99

It wouldn't necessarily mean working 16 hours. It would mean that you could drive six hours, get lunch for an hour, drive two hours, take four hours for a shower and a nap, and drive your last three hours.

Sleep eight hours, rinse, repeat as necessary. I honestly think the 14 hour rule forces people to choose between covering a full day's miles and taking a nap when they're tired. Extending it or eliminating it would allow me, if nobody else in this country, to rest when I feel like it, instead of when I'm not really tired.

I understand where you are coming from, I do. But on the other hand you have those drivers that do more than drive and then sit at the docks at the end of their trips, not that there is anything wrong with that.

[Deus]

Originally Posted by CannedSpam

This is not an attack on you per se, but who the hell wants to work 16 hours a day. Come on man get real! Did you just hop the border from Mexico?

Because I run a route and get to come home when it's done. If I had a 16 hour day the first day I'd get done early the second day, and be home early on the third day to have a good long weekend.

Right now I literally have to run sometimes to get the stops done so I can get to a decent hotel and don't have to stay in some run down dump in the middle of no where, or worse yet, the truck.

[kreeper01]

I have read about this subject on another truck related site and i believe with these supposed "new hours" trying to get past the D.O.T. is a crock of crap.

The current hours are good in a way, allowing 1 extra hour of driving with 14 "total hours of on duty" and with a 10 hour break instead of 8. Shippers and Receivers are trying to dictate what and what not can be done. Also, with these groups against tired drivers, i have recently found out that it will be a felony if and when a driver is caught working over the maximum 14 hours allowed by D.O.T. law.

I do have 1 question, did these "new rules" take effect or are they still on the drawing board :?:

[mike3fan]

Originally Posted by kreeper01

I do have 1 question, did these "new rules" take effect or are they still on the drawing board :?:

Nothing more than over exagerated trucker speculation at this point,nothing has been determined yet,only that the process by which the FMCSA put the rules into effect were deemed to be illeagal.Doesn't mean we won't get the same rules in the end they just need to go about implementing them the correct way.



from ooida dated 8/7/07
In the decision issued by the court, the 11-hour driving time limit and the 34-hour restart were thrown out. No changes to the sleeper-berth provision were made. The court ruled based on procedures followed by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and not on the merit of the challenged provisions.

Until FMCSA publishes changes in the Federal Register or make some sort of announcement, speculation as to what the revised regulations will be have truckers concerned about their current day-to-day operations.

But, in the short term, nothing really changes.

According to a statement from FMCSA following the court’s ruling, agency staffers are “analyzing the decision issued today to understand the court’s findings as well as determine the agency’s next steps to prevent driver fatigue, ensure safe and efficient motor carrier operations and save lives. This decision does not go into effect until Sept.14, unless the court orders otherwise.”

Officials with the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association said that until FMCSA takes some sort of official action truckers should continue operating under the 11-hour driving rule and utilizing the 34-hour restart if needed.

“The court’s ruling impacts the agency, not the truckers,” said OOIDA President and CEO Jim Johnston. “Truckers should continue operating the way you are until we see some sort of official action out of DOT.”

[silvan]

Originally Posted by VitoCorleone99

I honestly think the 14 hour rule forces people to choose between covering a full day's miles and taking a nap when they're tired. Extending it or eliminating it would allow me, if nobody else in this country, to rest when I feel like it, instead of when I'm not really tired.

I couldn't agree more.

There's no viable way to stop the clock to take a damn lunch break or whatever, and that has been an uncomfortably tight leash around my neck ever since that rule went into effect. I guess the idea is you should take the breaks anyway, and give up driving time. In practice, we have appointments to keep, and those times are dictated by factors beyond our control. If all the shippers and receivers were open 27/7 it would be a whole different business out here. They aren't though, so if you get to your destination an hour late, you might lose 24 hours before you can work again. So you have to press on, and get things done within the constraints of the rules, and that means break time in the middle of a run just about has to go.

We're all out here to earn a living after all. Exactly the same reason all these other people go to their own jobs every day. It's not that we're necessarily getting overly greedy, trying to get too much done, roll off too many miles. It's more like if you told normal 40-hour hourly people that because they worked over by an hour on Monday, they couldn't come back to work again until Wednesday, and would have to lose a day of pay. There would be a huge public outcry, and whatever politician put that rule through would be ruined faster than Trent Lott at an NAACP meeting.

If any of the newer people are interested in what things used to be like, I'm pretty sure I have some logbooks around from before the big HOS change. They will show me taking about 16-17 hours, bunk time to bunk time, to do my job in a day; driving about 9, working about 4, and taking a total of about three hours on line 1 during the day.

[kreeper01]

Sniff....Sniff....Sniff, Smells like a screw job to me.

The United States Gouverment is great at giving the shaft to population to the citizens of the United States. Also, the U.S. Gouverment is known to pull this sort of stunt anyway. What these Citizen groups should do along with every organization helping truckers out should do is sit down, write out what should benefit truckers (which is a givin) and give it to the Department of Transportaion.

The D.O.T. wouldn't know for a fact what it takes to drive a truck, little alone be in a truck for 2, 3, or 4 weeks at a time.

[cmegobye]

I miss my naps. The old rules allowed us to invest as many hours as needed into driving safely. If you were tired, you slept. If that meant taking a 4 hour nap and extending your 'driving' day by 4 hours, you were rested and relaxed when you got back out on the road. As long as you took an 8 hr break after completing 10 hrs driving (didn't matter how broken up the hours were), all was well with your log book. That nap could be while you were at a dock, a truckstop or any other safe area. I nap from 4-7pm along I-95 really helped to avaid rush hour. How many times have you wanted to sleep 'cause your belly was full' and you got lazy? Give us back our naps, please!